Scum remover



28, 1943. F. G. sTULLl-:R 2,337,859

SCUM REMOVER Filed Feb. 20, 1942. 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Dec., 28, 1943. F. QSTULLER 2,337,859

SCUM REMOVER Filed Feb. 20, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 gums/n10@ rnenied Dec;2s, 1943 SCUM REMOVER Frank G. Stuller, Milwaukee, Wis., assigner toChain Belt Company, Milwaukee, Wis.', a corporation ot WisconsinApplication February 20, 1942, Serial No. 431,759

6 Claims.

The invention relates to mechanism-for removlng scum and floating debrisfrom controlled bodies of liquids, and for purposes of disclosureV ithas been illustrated in the accompanying drawings and will be hereindescribed in connection with a, sedimentation tank of a type commonlyemployed in sewage disposal, although it will be readily apparent tothoseskille'd in the art that the apparatus is by no meansv limited tothis'l 10 In sewage disposal work it is now common practice to introducethe raw sewage into setparticular eld.

as clear as possible, means are usually provided A for separatingfsuchlighterY unsettleable materials from the. liquid and discharging themv`from Y the tanks. l

. It is a primary object of the present invention to providean'apparatusifor segregating and re.

moving froth, scum and debris iioating at .or

near the surface of a body of liquid within -a` vational view, onapproximately the plane indicated by the line 2-2 of Figure l, lookingin the direction of the arrows; l

Figure 3 is a plan View of the parts shown in Figure 2; i

Figure 4 is a transverse sectional view, on an enlarged scaleandpartlybroken away,'on approximately the plane indicated by the 1ine 44 of Figure 3, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Figure 5 is a sectional elevational view at right angles to Figure 4, onthe plane indicated by the line 5-5 of the latter ligure, looking in thedirection of the arrows;

Figure 6 is a view similar to the right hand portion of Figure 4,illustrating the mode of assembling the parts;

Figure 7 is a view similar to Figure 4 but on a reduced scale, showing asomewhat modified form of construction;

Figure 8 is a sectional elevational view at right angles to Figure 7,taken on the plane indicated by the line 8-8 ofthe latter gure,jlookingin tank such, for example, as a settling tank 0f the type referred toabove, which mechanism will be.

simple in construction, comparatively inexpen-4 sive to manufacture,install and maintain, .and`

may bev easily and quickly assembled,;while being quite eiiicien't inthe accomplishment of its intended purpose.

' A further object ofthe invention is'to provide a simple 'and'effective seal or packing" for the relatively loose fitting bearings 'ofthemechanism A whereby to prevent undue leakage' of theV` liquid i fromthetank'. Other objects 'willappearas'the description proceeds.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this speciiication, inwhich like reference characters designate like parts in all the views:

Figure l is Va longitudinal vertical sectional view of theeiuent end ofa typical sedimentation tank for sewage disposal work, wthuone form ofscum removing mechanism `constructed and arranged in accordance withthis invention positioned therein;

Figure 2 is a-.partial transverse sectional elethe direction of thearrows; and

Figure 9 is a fragmentary cross sectional view;

on anA enlargedscale, of the resilient sealing or igurationbefore'assembly.

A -In Figures 1 to 6 of the said drawings the scum -removing mechanismis illustrated in a typical application to a single compartment concretei sedimentationltankl having side walls i 6, Hoor il, and an end wall i9provided-with an outlet port 20 communicating'with an eluent channel orconduit 2l, which port mayy have an-adjustable weir 22- associatedlwithit whereby the Water level 23 maybe controlled Iwithinv suitablelimits.l

A transverse-baffle 2li-usually. entends across the f tank in front ofthefport 20;,and 'the tankmay j be provided-with power -drivensludgeremoving apparatus `such/'for"example, as a Well. known endlesslconvey'ery type, here illustrated -morefor less diagrammatically,comprising Y transversely face of the liquid, as shownin Figure'. 1,sothat' spaced longitudinallytraveling endless chains or belts25'trained about sprockets 26 mounted With- Y in the tank i5. The saidchains have .transverse nights or Scrapers 21- secured toth'em, the.pri-

mary purpose of which isto traverse `the oor l'l of the tank and movethe settled solids or sludge to the influent end ofthe tankiwherethey'-are withdrawn. It is customary in'fthis typeof. sludge removerto soarrange-the upper run'of the conveyerthattne nights 21 break thesur` in.returning to the eiiiuent end of the tank to begin a new sludge scrapingtraverse, they carry with them froth, scum and/or debris oating atspanning the space between the side walls i6 and journaled thereon, inbearings 3| and 32 to be later described in detail, for oscillatorymovements about its axis. The said pipe is provided with one or morelongitudinally disposed ports 33, which inthe normal position of themechanism are positioned above the water line, as indicated in Figuresl, 2 and 5, so as to prevent entry of liquid, scum and debris into thepipe through them. Should periods occur when there isno scum or floatingdebris on the liquid, the scummer pipe may be permitted to remain insuch position throughout them, thereby preventing the escape of anyliquid through it. In the normal operation of these tanks however, thereis usually some scum and debris present, and in the contemplated normaluse of the apparatus the pipe 30 may be permitted to remain in theinoperative position referred to until there is an accumulation offloating matter against its wall, whereupon the pipe will be manuallyturned about its axis, by means of a lever 34 rigidly Vsecured to it,through an angle of say 60, as

indicated in dotted lines in Figure 5, to bring a portion of its ports33 below the liquid level and thereby admit some of the liquid to theinterior of the pipe, which liquid of course carries the scum and debriswith it. The pipe may be kept in this position until the accumulationhas been eliminated, and then returned to its normal position; or in theevent heavy and continuous quantities of floating matter are present,the pipe may be left in its operative position until conditions change.Removal of the floating matter may thus be continuous or intermittent,as conditions dictate; and by varying the angular displacement of thepipe to bring more or less of its ports 33 vbeneath the liquid level,the rate of removaLmay be controlled.

"I'hepipe 30 is closed at one end, as by a disk or plug 36, but is openatv its other end to discharge through a passage 31 formed in the tankwall I8 to a discharge conduit 38 which conveys the material to anydesired pointfor treatment f or suitable disposal.

AAs above mentioned, the'pipe 38 is journaled for itsyoscillatorymovements in bearings 3| and 32 which are mounted on the sidewalls' I3 of the tank. The bearing 3l at the closed end of the pipecomprises a base plate 4l) adapted to be secured to the face .of a tankwall in any appropriate manner, as by bolts 4I, which plate is providedwith an arcuate projecting ange or saddle 4.2. The said saddle may beconveniently 1, 2 and-3. The inner radius of the said saddle ispreferably slightly greater than the radius of Athe outer surface of thepipe 38, so that the latter may oe readily dropped into the socketformed by assunse the saddle, occupying a position slightly eccentricrelative to the saddle, as shown in Figure 1. Since the arcuatemovements of the pipe are not of great amplitude, and are at a slowspeed as well as relatively infrequentl accurately fitting bearings arenot essential, and ones constructed as `iust described have been foundquite satisfactory while at the same time providing ease of assembly.

The bearing 32 at the open or discharge end of the pipe comprises a baseplate 45 similar to the plate 40, except that it is provided with anaperture 44 of a diameter substantially equal to the outside diameter ofthe pipe 30. This plate 43 is securable to the face of the tank wall asby bolts 43, and to its face there is rigidly secured, as by welding,two concentric annuli 41 and 48 the former or inner of which is shorter,in an axial direction, than the other and serves as the journal for thepipe endl as clearly shown in Figure 4. These annuli may be convenientlyformed in the same manner as the flange 42, i. e. by rolling barmaterial. 'I'he outerl annulus 48 projects beyond or overhangs thelinner one 41 to provide a housing for a resilient sealing or packingring 49. A split collar 50 is clamped upon the pipe 30 -abutting the endof annulus 48 and serves to retain the said packing ring 49 againstdisplacement. The collar is clamped upon the pipe by bolts 5I which passthrough pairs of companion ears 52, one pair -of which is radially boredto provide a socket 53 for receiving an end of the operating lever 34,all as will be clear from Figures 4 and 5.

'Ihe construction above described materially facilitates assemblyof theparts. which may be readily accomplished as follows: The saddle bearing3l is secured in place upon the face of its tank wall I3 by the nuts andbolts 4l, and the sealing ring 49 and bearing 32 are slipped upon theopen-end portion of the pipe 30, before it is lowered into the tank, toapproximately the positions shown in Figure 6. As indicated in thedrawings, the pipe 30 is of a length slightly less than the distancebetween the opposed faces of the tank walls i6 upon which it is to bemounted, and with the bearing 32 positioned somewhat inwardly from theopen end of the pipe the latter may be lowered in a substantiallyhorizontal position until its closed end portion seats in the saddle 42of the bearing 3l. This brings the open end of the pipe into substantialalinement with the passage 31-in the adjacent tank wall i6, whereuponthe bearing 32 may be slipped or worked axially of the pipe to itsoperative position against the face of said tank wall, where it issecured by nuts threaded upon the bolts 46. I'he sealing ring 49 is thenmoved axiallyv on the pipe into the housing formed by the annulus 48,

whereupon the split collar lill may be positioned upon the pipe, theoperating lever 34 introduced into its socket, and the said collarclamped by the bolts 5I with its side face abutting the end of the saidhousing annulus and the sealing ring 49, as in Figure 4. The collar 50thus performs the double function of providing an operating connectionbetween the pipe 30 and its operating lever 34. and of retaining thesealing ringv 49 in operative position.

Although the packing or sealing ring 49 may be of various suitablematerials as well as of various cross sectional congurations, it 'ispreferred that it take the form of a rubber annulus, of substantially Ucross section, as best shown in Figure 9, with its legs 49'-or at leastthe outer faces thereof-somewhat divergent before intro- Having, thusfully set vforth .two illustrative i `embodiments of the invention forpurposes oi' duction into operative position within the housing annulus48. However, when the'ring is moved into the housing and lthe col1arf50clamped in position the said legs are compressed and straightened sothat their'outer faces are substantially perpendicular lto theoutercircumfer-l ence of the ring, `as shown inFlgure 4.' The com.

pression andstraightening ofthe legs 4 9'causes their innercircumferentialfaces '.to tightlygrip" the pipe 30, while .theresilience of the ring` of course :constantly'tends to spread the legsto the Figure9 position', and-as a'result good sealing .contact issecured and maintained between the surfaces of the ring 49 andthecompanion sur.

faces of the pipe 30,journal annulus 4 1, housing disclosure' but not.of limitation, what is 'claimed is:

1. vIn scum'rem'oving apparatus-for a Vsedimentation. chamber or thelike having spaced opposed walls'one of which is" provided with apassage, .said-apparatus comprising a. substantially,

. horizontal partly submerged conduit spanning the chamber betweensaidvwalls, said conduithaving a'c1osedend,-.an open endjcommunicatingwith Asaid wall passage; and =a perimetric admission port intermediatesaid ends; a. saddle' bearing for annulus 48 and collar 50,which-effectively preventsl undue'leakage of liquid through .the loosely.fitted journal bearing. a

vIn Figures 7 and 8 there is shown the application of a somewhatmodiedform ofthe invention to a plural compartment settling tank,A=i'.fe.'

one inwhich several adjacent' parallel settling chambers areprovidedjby. intermediate walls i6'.

Here a pipe 30 -for one of theoutside chambers` may be of a constructionidentical with that of the-closed 'end of said conduit, 'secured tol and.projectingromthe face ofoiiel of said chamber walls opposite thepassagetin the @ther wall; an annular bearing .structure providing `aloosely `iltting journalfor the open end portion of said conduit,securedfto and projectingfrom the 'face of the last mentioned wall inalinement with its passage: said conduit `being of a length somey.whatless than .thedistance between said walls the pipe described above,.while the pipes 30' and 3U' are mounted therein inaxial .alinement andwith the passages 31 form a continuous conduit extending completelyacross the .plural compartment tank. Each pipe however, is providedlwith vits own operating mechanism sothat it may be manipulatedindependently, in accordance with scum conditions inv its particularchamber.v

The operating meansl for .the pipes .may of course be of the hand levertype described above, but as shown in Figures 7 and -8`is of a worm andgear type, comprising a worm vwheel'. 6U journaled upon the housingannulus 48 of one of the bearings32 which support the pipe. The saidworm wheel may be so formed as to extend across the end face of theannulus 68 and the packing ring 49, and thustake the place of the splitcollar 50 for retaining the packing ring in place. The Worm wheels maybeoperatively but readily detachably connected to their pipes, as by bolts6l extending through the pipe wall and engaging between spacedears S2carried by the wheels. As best shown in Fig. 7, the bores'of the wormWheels through which the pipes 3U, 3U'

pass, are of slightly larger diameter than that of the pipes,thereby'providing 'clearance between the pipes and Wheels, and .sincethedriving connections 6i, 62 between the two are not rigid,fa

` certain amount of misaline'ment of the pipes relative to the Wheelswill be accommodated. A Worin meshes with the wheel 60, being car- -vried by a `shaft/t6 journaled in bearings''l carried by the base plate65 of the pipe bearing 32. The worm shaft 66 carries? pinsorprojec-4tions 68 which are readilydetachably receivable in sockets formed in thestem 69j of a removable Y key 10, whereby the said worm shaft -may bewhereby it may belovvered betweenthem in a substantiallyl horizontalposition -carrying said annular open end bearing structurefforpositioning and securement thereof to its wall when the -closed end ofthe conduithas been seated in said saddle bearing and its open endalined with the wall passage; and means for rotatively moving theconduit insaid bearings-to atleast partially submerge itsadmission-fport;'whereby scum and oatingdebrismayjenterjthe conduit andbe discharged through the vWall passage.

2. Inis'cumremoving .apparatus for a sedimen- `tation chamber orthelikehaving spaced opposed walls one ofwhich 'is provided witha-passage,`

said apparatus l comllirisinga substantially horivzontally disposed,partly submergedconduit spanning thev chamber between saidopposed wallsand having an open .end'communicating with said Wall passage, saidconduitalso having `an admission port in that portion ofits perimetricwall which is normally above 'the liquid level; bearing structuresprovidinglooselyfltting journals for said conduit; secured to saidopposed 4chamber Walls and projecting-fromv the faces thereof, thebearing structure journaling the open end portion of the conduit .havinga packing receiving housing open tothe chamber.; a packing in saidhousing for .preventing leakage from the chamberto the conduit and'wallpassage; a split collar provided with va socket, clamped upon the fconduitabutting said housing to retain said packoscillated.Ordinarilyonly one such keywould panion bearings 32 of each pipe but ofcourse are` not provided with operating levers 3B. .Y

" debris to the conduit .thewall passage.

ing in-.place therein; and an operating'lever secured. in said collarsocket, whereby the conduit may be rotatively moved in the bearingstructures to at least partially submergeits admission port to permitentry yof 'the scum andfloating and its discharge through 3. Inscumremov'ingf apparatus forf'a sedimentation chamber or the like havingspaoed opposed wallsone of whichis provided with a passage,`

said apparatus comprising. a substantiallyA horizontalpartly submergedconduitjspanning the chamber between saidwalls and havingan open endcommunicating. with said wall fpassage, said conduit alsohaving'anadmission-v port inl that portion of vits perimetricwall' which isnormally above the liquid levelfbearing`1structuresproviding looselytting journals for'saidconduit, se-

cured .toV and projecting from'the opposite lfacesl ofthe respectivewalls, at least one of said bearing structures `havingan annularpacking-receiving recess open at one end to the chamber; a. re-

ass'asoo I i v open ond portion of the oondmt, the bearing U crosssection, the annular end faces of said ring in its normal'unstressedcondition being outwardly conyergent,- said packing ring beingpositioned in its recessunder pressureto bring'said convergent end facesinto substantial'parallelism whereby the ringmaterial is stressed and asealing contact is secured between the ring. conduit the loosely nttingjournal'; means :or retaining' said packing. ringin s'aid recess, insuch stressed condition; and means fork1 rotatively movingv the conduitin itsjournals'to :01in'i:ia.ll wjrl submergeits;

' admissionportsfQ v f l j :1

V4; In scum removingapparatus i'or a sedimentation chamber lor thelike,comprising -a partly submerged conduit .spanning thejchamber betweenopposedwalls thereof. saidconduit having l gaging said packing ring toretain it within the and bearing 'structure'which prevents'leakage ofvhoi1sing;-and a worm operatively engaging said liquid' from thechsmber.to the conduit through structure also including a housing for a packingmaterial; a packing ringsurroundins the conduit and positioned withinsaid housing, for prevent .ing leakage oi! liquid from the chamber tothe conduit through said bearing: a worm wheel coni nected tothe conduitand having a portion cnwheel whereby the conduit may be oscillated to atleast partially subm'ergev its port to admit liquid,

. which 'accommodate slight tweeen the two. 'Y

" .scum and debris to thefconduit therethrough.

5,. Apparatus according .to claim 4, wherein the connection between theworm wheel and conduit `facco'nmioclates slight lmisalinement betweenthe ,.6. Apparatus according to claini 4, wherein the vworm wheel isiournaledon the bearing structure.

vandthe ,connection between saidwheel and'eon.. duit comprises engagingelements carried by each misallnement be-

